Razor blades have been mounted in shaving systems for wet shaving using a variety of techniques. Many shaving systems include flexible blades, which require support along their length.
For example, some shaving systems containing flexible blades are manufactured by sandwiching a blade, having perforations extending along its length, between two layers of plastic. The blade is then secured in place, e.g., by riveting the blade through the perforations. One of the functions of this method of construction is to provide rigid support for the flexible blade. For those razors manufactured by this method containing a plurality of blades, a spacer between each pair of blades is generally necessary.
Flexible blades have also been mounted by insert molding the plastic of the razor or razor cartridge around the longitudinal edge of the blade that is opposite the cutting edge, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,178. Typically, most or all of the unsharpened edge is captured within the molded plastic, and a support structure is integrally molded into the cartridge housing to provide support along the length of the blade. In those systems which are designed to allow the blade to flex, the support structure may be corrugated to allow the cartridge body and blade to bend simultaneously while providing intermittently spaced support to the blade. An integral guard is often molded as a feature of the cartridge to protect the skin.
Other types of shaving systems include supported (relatively inflexible) blades that are captured only at their ends and are allowed to move during shaving, in a direction generally perpendicular to the length of the blade. A razor cartridge having a movable, supported blade is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,634. In this cartridge, blades are mounted on bent blade supports having upper portions that support the blades at a desired angle and lower base portions that are bent with respect to the upper portions. The bent blade supports are generally made from sheet metal that has been stamped and bent. (Such blades and blade supports are shown in FIGS. 6-8 herein.) The lower base portions of the bent blade supports extend to the sides beyond the upper bent portions and the blades. The lower base portions slide up and down in slots in a cartridge housing while the upper portion rests against resilient arms during shaving. The slots of the cartridge housing have back stop portions and front stop portions that define, between them, the region in which the blade supports can move forward and backward as they slide up and down in the slots during shaving. The front stop portions are positioned beyond the ends of the blade, so as not to interfere with movement of the blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,885 describes insert molded dynamic shaving systems, i.e., shaving systems in which the blades are allowed to move in a direction generally perpendicular to the length of the blade. In one embodiment, shown in FIG. 6, a supported blade is captured at its ends by insert molding, and is dynamically mounted in a razor cartridge by vertical return springs 30.